The Texas Legislature has recently been proposing new ideas for their congressional districts, and this week have sent a new map to Republican Governor Greg Abbott. The map was primarily drawn up by Texas republicans and despite the state gaining two new congressional seats with a surge in the state’s Latino population, the new lines drawn heavily favor white voters.

The state’s massive growth in the last couple of decades has largely been people of color, almost half being Hispanic. Leading up to the reapportionment of the two new house seats, 95% of the growth can be attributed to these people of color. Despite this fact, the Republicans have inserted these new districts in areas of Houston and Austin with large white voter populations. This is a spit in the face of both cities which have some of the most diverse populations in the country.

The Texas legislature approved the map, but it was not without resistance from Democrat representatives. Representative Rafael Anchía from Dallas—chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus—stated before the vote that “What we’re doing in passing this congressional map is a disservice to the people of Texas.” Additionally, he said that “I’d love to be able to say it is a stain on the legacy of voting rights, but that seems to be the playbook decade after decade after decade in this state.”

The way Republicans drew this map to still remain somewhat within the confines of the law, they claimed that they were protecting voters from discrimination and kept communities of interest together. The way they went about drawing these congressional lines though is the main issue. They manipulated district lines very clearly, combining diverse suburban areas with rural districts so that Democrat voices can be outweighed and ultimately have their interests not heard.

As of right now, a federal lawsuit has been filed by a group of voters and organizations that represent Latino voters, alleging that the maps have been intentionally discriminating against Latinos and violating the Voting Rights Act. What Republicans are doing here is highly questionable if outright illegal, but the ones judging these Republicans are the Republican Governor and Republican judges. Similar things are happening across the country with many advocating against these new maps and similar policies, and only time will tell their potential impact on voters.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/10/18/texas-congressional-maps-redistricting/